Apollodorus Against Nicostratus in the Matter of Slaves of Aresthusius (10-13)

A few days afterwards he came up to me weeping, and told me that the strangers who had lent him the ransom money were demanding payment of the balance, and that it was stipulated in the agreement that he should pay it within thirty days or be indebted for double the amount; that, moreover, no one would either buy or take a mortgage on the farm adjoining mine, because his brother Arethusius, who is the owner of the slaves mentioned in the information, would not suffer anyone to buy it or take it on mortgage, alleging that money was owing him on it already.

Do you, therefore, he said, provide for me the amount which is lacking before the thirty days have passed, in order that what I have already paid, the thousand drachmae, may not be lost, and that I myself be not liable to seizure. I shall make a collection from my friends, he said, and when I have got rid of the strangers, I shall pay you in full whatever you shall have lent me. You know, he said, that the laws enact that a person ransomed from the enemy shall be the property of the ransomer, if he fail to pay the redemption money.

When I heard these words of Nicostratus, having no idea that he was lying, I answered, as was natural for a young man who was an intimate friend, and who was far from thinking that he would be defrauded, Nicostratus, in time past I was a true friend to you, and now in your misfortunes I have helped you to the full extent of my power. But since at the moment you are unable to find the whole amount due, I indeed have no funds on hand, nor have I money any more than yourself, but I grant you a loan of whatever part of my property you choose, for you to mortgage for the balance of your debt, and to use the money without interest for a year, and to pay off the strangers. When you have made the collection from your friends, pay off my mortgage, as you yourself propose.

Hearing this, Nicostratus thanked me, and bade me to proceed with the matter with all speed before the expiration of the days in the course of which he said he must pay the ransom. Accordingly I mortgaged my lodging-house for sixteen minae, to Arcesas of Pambotadae,[*] whom Nicostratus himself introduced to me, and he lent me the money at the interest rate of eight obols a month for each mina.[*] But, when Nicostratus had got the money, so far from showing any gratitude for what I had done for him, he immediately began to lay a plot against me to rob me of my money and become my enemy, in order that I might be at a loss how to deal with the matter, since I was young and without experience in affairs, and might not exact from him the sum for which the lodging-house had been mortgaged, but might forgive him the debt.